STRAWBERRY FREEZER JAM TO THE RESCUE!

Here's a  story and a recipe for The Mall Fairies' Sweet Tooth Cookbook, which will be released free as a PDF on this blog December first, with quick and easy sweet recipes just in time for Christmas cooking and baking!

 Aunt Diane stared down at the piece of paper, as if willing it to change. It didn't change. It still said: "For the Fairyland Festival, please bring 30 homemade items to sell."

Thirty. Homemade. Items.

Diane sighed. Yes, the Festival was only once a year. Yes, all the proceeds were donated to good causes. And yes, it was a Festival of only homemade stuff. But she worked full time and then some extra hours, okay a lot of extra hours, at her Realtor job. She possessed no time and no energy to make 30 different thingies. Plus, she needed to maintain her reputation as the gal who could do it all without breaking a sweat. She sighed once more and did what she always did when faced with a problem she couldn't think of the answer to: she ate.

Or rather, she went to the refrigerator to decide what to eat. Not much there. Diane didn't make it to the grocery store very often, her work schedule didn't permit—anything but work. She sighed one last time. She'd have to fall back on her old standby: peanut butter and jam sandwiches. She got all the ingredients out, save for the jam, her favorite, homemade strawberry freezer jam. It was so simple, easy and fast to make, and made so much that Diane always made the jam herself.

Her hand closed around the jam jar.

Simple.  Easy. Fast. Makes a lot.

Diane grinned.

And her jars of strawberry freezer jam sold like another food item, hotcakes, which of course she suggested was a great combination—pancakes and strawberry jam!

STRAWBERRY FREEZER JAM

1 pkg. No Cook Pectin
11/2 cups of sugar (I use one cup, for a more tart jam, my preference)
4 cups crushed strawberries (about 4 lbs or 2 quarts) (I use the frozen bags of strawberries, defrosted, then I can skip the whole "wash and hull strawberries" step, plus the defrosted strawberries are as chunky as I prefer my jam, which is pretty chunky.)

Wash strawberries, remove stems.
Use a potato masher, a food processor or a hand blender to mash the strawberries to your preferred consistency.
Add the sugar and pectin and stir until blended.
Ladle into jars with lids, leave room at the top for expansion when freezing.
Let sit for 30 minutes. Put into refrigerator or freezer.
A jar will keep in the refrigerator for 3 weeks, and in the freezer for up to a year.

You can use other fruits to make other jams, blueberries for example. I wouldn't use bananas as I'm fairly certain the fruit would turn black, yechh.

This makes a lot of jam. There's no way to really halve the recipe because of the pectin. However, it's great for gifts. And it stays frozen for a year. So make away!